NOTE: This Introduction was
originally written when this Guide was being offered to jazz radio programmers in a now
defunct effort to build an online jazz programmer community. The Guide is now offered to
anyone interested. It will likely never be updated, so here it is, "for the
Ages." --J.O. Spaak, former 'UH Jazz Director, May 2002

As serious jazz people, we probably all get irritated when we hear a radio
announcer lacking jazz experience inform us that we were just listening to
"Art Blakely and the Jazz Messengers" or "violinist Stephanie Grappelli".
This
kind of error is as much a result of being a lazy or inattentive reader,
obviously, as being inexperienced in jazz. This Guide does not pretend to be able to cure
that problem. And, it's very obvious that it will be of no help when one is sitting before
an open mic, reading the personnel from a recording not
encountered before, and discovering an equally "foreign" name (foreign in
quotes because it may very well be a name from the English-bred world).
However, if one plans to do a special segment spotlighting the music of
someone you've long admired, but dreaded pronouncing the name, it may be of
some modest aid to you.

The first batch of candidates for inclusion here was culled from an informal
survey of New England radio people at a meeting several years ago. The
nominees were to be musicians whose names we had heard other radio people
mispronounce frequently. (The database has grown since, by additional
nominations and on the Editor's own initiative, and now includes the
occasional place name, name of a composition, name of a record label, names of noted
producers or others associated with the music, etc.) Even in a room
containing many decades of collective jazz radio experience, some names
struggled valiantly to avoid a consensus being reached about them. This raises
the issue of authority. "Joe Blow has been on the air for 20 years and he says
it this way..." is not sufficient authority. I'll bet you "dollars to
donuts"
that "Joe Blow" doesn't know how to say "Montreux"! Obviously, the
ultimate
authority would be derived by summoning the subject (from the grave, when
appropriate) to appear before us and tell us with his/her own lips how the
name should be said. Since this is slightly impractical, the next best thing
is to have "earwitness" testimony of someone who did, at one time, speak
directly to the party in question and heard how the person pronounced her or
his own name. When this is possible, the Editor will cite that information in
the entry. [The Editor only appoints himself an "Authority" in one area:
French! This because he studied it in his youth until it "came out his
ears".]

Why does all this matter? Should we all go about speaking like, to borrow
Monty Python's immortal phrase, "upper class twits"? Your Editor believes it
is a matter of respect for other cultures (time to reverse the trend of
English-speakers trotting the globe demanding that "the natives" be the ones
to learn a new tongue!), and respect for an individual's personal heritage.
(With all the attention garnered by Wynton, Branford, et al, why have some
media types still not picked up on the fact that it's pronounced
"Mar-sell-iss", not "Mar-sail-iss" or some other
variant?!?) Is your Editor so
deluded as to believe a unanimity of pronunciation by jazz radio hosts in New
England can be achieved? Not quite, but it's endless fun to argue over these
things! By the way, though your Editor takes sole responsibility for what
appears here, he makes no claim to infallibility. Yes, there's the occasional educated
guess where reliable resources just weren't available. Take it or leave it, folks!!

HOW TO USE/PRONUNCIATION KEY

HOW TO USE: Entries are listed "Last name first". Since we lack the
resources to set up a search engine, use the links to jump to the appropriate section of
the alphabet (e.g., "A-E", "XYZ", etc.) and just scroll down the page
seeking an entry. You'll also find links planted to return you to the Key, below.
Happy exploring!

PRONUNCIATION KEY: Believe it or not,
this software does not provide the ability to place a hyphen-like line above a vowel to
indicate it's a "long
vowel". This kind of clue will be given via the phonetic "spelling out" of
the
entry and, often, by giving an example of a common word with which it rhymes.
Therefore, it is ESSENTIAL that you read an entry in its entirety! (You'll
find the occasional attempted witticism this way, lucky you!) The syllable to
be emphasized appears in bold type; in the rare case of an entry with two
syllables emphasized, the stronger one will be in larger typeface. (In some tongues, e.g.
French, on occasion all syllables are emphasized uniformly--which is to say, not
emphasized at all!)

Special situations:
"zh"...This is borrowed from dictionaries. It represents a
"soft 'g'", as in
"mirage". Most frequently, though, for our purposes, it will represent the
Portuguese "j" that we encounter via Brazil (e.g., "Jobim").
the dreaded umlaut...Yes, it's that cute little pair of dots above a vowel in
Teutonic tongues. Dictionaries tell us the vowel is to be pronounced with the
mouth rounded, as if saying a "long 'o'". Have fun!

Boland, Francis frahn-see bo-lahn
("bo" as in "bonus") French
big band leader

Bonfa, Luiz lou-eez bone-fah Brazilian songwriter,
(?) pianist

Bunnett, Jane buh-net Flutist

Catingub, Mattcat-tin-goob Arranger, big band
leader

Childers, Buddychill-ders Trumpeter

Chopin, Frédéric fray-day-reek shu-pan
("shu" as in "shut"; 'n' in last name said with "nasal"
tone, and half-swallowed) Francified Polish piano master, composer of 19th
Century; occasional dedicatee of
modern jazz homages

Cohen, Avishaiah-vi-shy("vi" as
in "vintage") Bassist

Coleman, Cy "sigh" Songwriter

"Concierto de Aranjuez" cone-see-air-toe
day ah-rahn-wezz (now
here's the really good part: the second 'c' in first word and the last
syllable of final word are...lisped!! To execute this correctly, you should end up
with your tongue protruding between your upper and lower teeth. Try it--it's
fun!) Composition for guitar and orchestra by J. Rodrigo, served as
inspiration for famous Gil Evans/Miles Davis collaboration, among others

McLaughlin, John mc-lock-lin (the
"gh" has nothing to do with the
word "laugh") English guitarist of Irish ancestry

McLean, Jackie mc-leen [Your editor has
heard Max Roach,
among other well-informed individuals, let this slip as "mc-lane"--
the name is of Scottish origin, after all--but the family itself uses the
stated pron.] Alto saxophonist, educator

McLean, René roo-nay ("oo" as
in "look") Saxophonist, son of
above

Makowicz, Adamah-dahm mah-koh-vitch
Pianist of Czech
origin

Marsalis, Delfeayodelf-ee-oh mar-sell-iss
Trombonist,
producer [authority: this is how brother Branford pronounced his
name when I interviewed the saxophonist. Pronunciation of last name
applies to the whole "clan", of course]

Masekela, Hugh moss-ay-kay-lah
("moss" as in the soft, green
plant life; just don't say it like a New Yorker ["mawss"], please!)
South African trumpet/flugelhorn player

Monk, Thelonious theh-loan-ee-uss
("th" as in "threat") Pianist,
composer [Your editor suspects it's an "urban legend" that a college
radio announcer once said this as "the loneliest monk"--but that wasthe caption when his portrait appeared on the cover of Time maga-
zine! For years, his first name was misspelled by omitting the second
'o']

Montreux moan-trooh (the 'n' is kind of
half-swallowed, the "oo"
like in "look" with last syllable kind of explosive, the 'x' is silent)
Swiss
site of famous jazz festival [ironically, if there was an 'a' after the 'e',
the way Americans mispronounce this would be close to correct--
except they still wouldn't get the first syllable right! French--you
gotta love it!]

Mutet 'mu' as in "mutate" Group led by
reed player Jeff
Coffin [authority: Mr. Coffin's own pronuciation in a live
performance--J.O.S.]

"Naima" nah-eem-ah John
Coltrane composition, named for his
wife

Newborn, Phineas Jr.finn-ee-iss
Pianist [Jon Pollack of
WMBR--Cambridge, relates that, according to Mr. Newborn's
brother, he was given the name "Phinus" at birth, but taunting by
peers in his formative years led to his changing his name to Phineas
for public consumption; your editor argues that we should use the
latter.]

Nieske, Bobness-key New England-based
bassist

"Nuages" nwazh Django Reinhardt composition;
French for
"Clouds"

Okegwo, Ugonna ooh-gahn-ah oh-keg-woh
Bassist

Onishi, Junkozhoon-ko oh-nee-she
("oon" as in "loon") Pianist

Ozone, Makoto mah-koh-toh oh-zoh-nay
(long 'o' in all cases)
Pianist

Petrucciani, Michel mee-shell peh-true-chee-ah-nee
("chee"
like in "cheese") Pianist [as with S. Grappelli, we have
a mix of
French and Italian heritage here]

Ravel, Maurice moh-reese rah-vell
French composer of
19th/20th Centuries; inspiration for occasional jazz "impressionism"
or homage to the composer [who was known to "hang out" with
the likes of George Gershwin]

Reinhardt, Djangozhane-go rhine-heart
(long 'a' in first name)
Famous "Gypsy" guitarist and collaborator with Grappelli in The
Quintet of The Hot Club of France

Roche, Betty ru-shay ("ru"
like in "rush") Vocalist, most notably
with Ellington

Rosnes, Reneeree-nee ros-nehz
("ros" as in "rosin" or "Roswell")
Pianist

Swartz, Harvie swartz [Harvie states in an email that he
almost
gets physically ill if he hears his name pronounced as if there's a 'ch'
in it. I guess this one's definitively resolved! Thanks to Fred
Bouchard, WMBR--Cambridge, for passing that along.] Bassist

Tchicai, John chee-kigh ("kigh"
rhymes with "sigh") Danish reed
player

Terrasson, Jackytear-uh-son
("tear" as in "tear the paper", "son"
as in "sonic") Pianist [your editor doubts that this
would "cut it"
in Jacky's native France, but apparently this is what he's settled for
in the English speaking world]

Weill, Kurt court vile [not a comment on our
judicial system--
this is phonetic approximation of this German composer whose
"Threepenny Opera" gave us "Mack The Knife". It's said that after
Hitlerism forced him into exile, he desired to be "de-Germanized",
so an Anglo-ized pron. is acceptable]

Whitfield, Wesliawezz-lah Vocalist; in
recent years, she has
dropped the silent 'i' from first name to avoid confusion

Winding, Kai kigh win-ding
(Careful! "kigh" rhymes with "sigh";
"win" as in "window") Danish trombonist. Jim
Wilke of "Jazz After Hours" persuaded your editor that this was fine and dandy
with
the artist in question, regardless of how that 'w' may have been
pronounced on Danish soil. Problem? Blame Jim!